Maija
Feminine
The best-known meaning of Mary is a copying mistake. Jerome glossed the Hebrew as stilla maris, a drop of the sea; a later scribe wrote stella maris, star of the sea; and the error was so much better than the original that it became a title, a hymn and a thousand church names.
How old is the name Maija?
Maija first appears in US birth records in 1952 — 73 years ago. The typical Maija alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 1,200 people named Maija are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maija most popular?
Maija peaked in 1999, reaching #2438 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 8,479 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maria to Maija
The story of Maija
Finnish writes what it says. The alphabet was built for the language rather than inherited from Latin, so every letter has one sound, a doubled vowel is simply a longer one, and a reader who knows the rules can pronounce any Finnish word correctly on first sight. That is why Maria becomes Maija: the ij is a diphthong Finnish actually uses, and the spelling records how Finnish mouths say the name rather than how Latin wrote it. Latvian arrived at the same five letters separately, and there Maija is also the month of May, which no Finn hears in it. The name has been among the most given in both countries for a very long time.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Maija is the Finnish and Latvian form of Maria, and nobody knows what Maria means. Proposals include a Hebrew root for bitterness, an Egyptian word for beloved, and a word for rebellion; none has been established. Star of the sea, the reading most often printed, entered the tradition through a scribal error and is not an etymology at all.
How the name formed
- Maria
- Maija
Related forms: Maija · Maija · Maie
Pronouncing Maija
MY-yah
Two syllables, stress firmly on the first, as Finnish stresses every word. The ij is one gliding sound, not two vowels. American speakers often say muh-EE-jah, which is three syllables and a different name.
Nicknames for Maija
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1952
- Most girls named
- 199959 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2438reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −11.1%8 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Maija in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maija in Finnish — same name
- Maija in Latvian — same name
- Maie in Estonian — related form
Maijas among us
people named Maija are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Maija
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Carmina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maija's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carmina climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carmina's path sketches the road Maija is walking now.
Maija sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Maija beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maija in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is an ordinary, fully current name in two countries rather than a coinage.
- Three short forms, one of which is among the most given names in America.
- Five letters and two syllables, with a spelling that is regular in its own language.
- English readers will treat the j as an English j and produce something unrecognizable.
- Maya, Maia and Maja are all commoner here and all close.
- There is no established meaning behind Maria, so there is no simple answer to give a child.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Maija
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maijas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Maija are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maija in 2025?
- Maija ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maija?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Maija — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maija with classmates?
- Maija will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maija
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maija? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maija and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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